Improvement in processes of manufacturing ammonia



NH IJD "ME FARNHAM MAXWELL-Lycra, or PARIS, nnxnon.

IMPROVEMENT lN PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURING AMMONIA.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. [6 1,137, dated March23, 1875; application filed March 10, 1875.

face.

This said alloy is subjected to a moderate degree of heat in a closedchamber, and a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen (or a hydrogen compound)is then passed over the alloy, which produces, under the influences ofheat and chemical affinity, a combination of nitrogen and hydrogen toform ammonia.

I produce, first of all, a combination or alloy of one of the moreeasily oxidizable metals (say, for instance, potassium, sodium, one ofthe alkalino-earthy metals, or even zinc) with one of the triadelements, as, for instance,

antimony, bismuth, arsenic, phosphorus, or

tin, it being understood that the combination or alloy in questionshould be of such chemical or physical constitution as to be able todecompose water or watery vapor at a moderate temperature, not exceedingthat of low or incipient redness. An alloy of antimony and sodium orpotassium, for instance, which decomposes water at ordinarytemperatures, and rapidly at the boiling heat, is of this nature.

Such an alloy may, for convenience, be produced by calcining oxide ofantimony, or the powder or a suitable salt of that metal, with carbonateof soda or potassa, and enough charcoal or organic matter to eii'ect thereduction, or with any proper reducing material. If the carbon ororganic matter be in sufficient excess, it retains the reduced metals inan amorphous and porous state, fit to be rapidly acted on in thesubsequent treatment.

I now place this reduced alloy or combination in a proper receptacle,and expose it to the action of a mixture of aqueous vapor and nitrogen,when the sodium or potassium of the alloy, uniting with the oxygen ofthe water, produces hydrogen, which, in its nascent state, combines withthe nitrogen present, and produces ammonia.

Arsenide of sodium, phosphide of sodium, bismuthide of sodium, tin, andsodium produce similar results with nitrogen and aqueous vapornot all,however, to the same extent.

The process being accelerated by heat, it is advisable to maintain thematerial at a temperature of from 212 to 750 Fahrenheit during thepassage of the nitrogen and aqueous vapor. The sodium may be herereplaced by the other alkaline metals, alkalino earthy metals, or bynine, or by a mixture of them.

The reaction here employed may be represented by the following generalformula, where M represents the triad or pentad element, and It theoxidizable metal; N, nitrogen; H, by drogen, and 0 oxygen: 2(MR )+2N+3(HO) =M +6(RO)+2(NH The presence of the triad or pentad element isessential to the process, but the presence of hydrogen in'the nascentform is also essential. ,7

I may add that, in order to regenerate the metallic alloy orcombination, and to reproduce the ammonia-producing compound, it issuflicient to expose the same to a red heat under the action of areducing agent-gaseous, liquid, solid, inorganic, or organic; forinstance, if enough carbon still remains in the compound, simple heatingto redness will regenerate it.

It is evident that in this reaction it may also be presumed that thereis formation of a hydrogen compound of the triad or pentad, which issubsequently decomposed in contact with the nitrogen present, as, forinstance, the compound of triad antimony with hydrogen. The reaction inthis case would not be represented as above, and would be thus for thecase of antimony: SbH +N=N 11 Sb, or, generally, MH +N=M+NH but in thiscase it is none the less certain that we have, equally as before, thepresence of nascent hydrogen with nitrogen, and the simultaneouspresence of a triad, which combination of substances A'rnN'r FIG,

forms the basis of the present patent, the presence of aqueous vaporbeing merely an accessory requisite for production of nascent hydrogenin certain cases.

I claim- The herein-described process of producing ammonia by thecombination of nitrogen with nascent hydrogen liberated in the presenceof a triad or pentad element, substantially as described.

FARNHAM MAXWELL-LYTE. Witnesses R0131. M. HOOPER, EMILE DUHAN.

